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In what looms as a devastating blow to horse racing in Ontario, the provincial government has proposed that the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation end the 14-year slots-at-racetracks program on March 13, 2013.

Members of Ontario's horse racing industry fear the loss of the slots-at-racetracks program could irreparably damage Woodbine's purse structure. (Michael Burns photo)

By Jennifer MorrisonSpecial to the Star

Mon., March 12, 2012

In what looms as a devastating blow to horse racing in Ontario, the provincial government has proposed that the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation end the 14-year slots-at-racetracks program on March 13, 2013.

“When I heard that, I wanted to cry,” said Sherry McLean, who has worked as a thoroughbred manager at famed Gardiner Farms in Caledon East for almost three decades.

“We finally have built up a very lucrative, successful provincial racing program at Woodbine, so much so that many states in the U.S. have been trying to emulate us. Finally, we have been able to make a decent living in this business and now this announcement comes?”

One month after the release of the Drummond Report recommendations, which included a review of the current revenue-sharing contract, another surprise announcement, this time about gambling expansion in the province, came on Monday.

The OLG’s gambling expansion is set to include a reconfiguring of the location of slot machines (they currently exist at 17 Ontario racetracks), a proposed Toronto casino — Woodbine has been floated as a potential site — and wider availability of lottery sales and online gaming. The aim, according to the OLG, is to increase revenues by $1 billion a year and create 2,300 new jobs, plus an additional 4,000 by 2017-2018.

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“I find it irresponsible,” said Sue Leslie, president of the Ontario Horse Racing Industry Association. “Why, why would you end a successful revenue-sharing program with one partner on the hope that you will find a better partner? The ministry is saying this new plan is going to net 2,300 new jobs, but you will be losing 60,000 jobs in the horse racing industry.”

The slots-at-racetracks program was put together in 1998 when Mike Harris’s Progressive Conservative government sought a location for slot machines other than charity casinos and restaurants or bars.

David Willmot, then the CEO and president of Woodbine Entertainment Group, worked out a deal with the government in which tracks would house the machines and receive 20 per cent of slots revenue, with the local municipality receiving 5 per cent.

The program injects more than $1 billion a year into the province’s economy. In total, government revenue from Ontario horse racing has increased by 27 per cent over the last 10 years. The province collects $261 million dollars a year from the industry, not including OLG profits from slot machines.

“If they take away this slot revenue, there will be no purse structure left,” McLean said of Woodbine’s racing purses, among the highest in North America. “A month ago, everyone was a little bit nervous after the Drummond Report, but this shoots us in the foot. It will hurt this year’s yearling sale at Woodbine — who is going to buy horses if the purses drop next spring?”

Gardiner Farms employs anywhere from 15 to 30 people and does business with feed mills, veterinarians, farm mechanics and dozens of other workers in the industry.

“We make our income in the Ontario Sired program (at Woodbine) and with these racehorses, we work for something that occurs (foals born, then racing) two, three years down the road,” McLean said. “If this happens next year, we are all in serious trouble.”

Should Woodbine not be the site of a new Toronto casino, the implications could be huge for horse racing in Ontario. Leslie says the industry must continue to press its case.

“Alone, just the introduction of a casino within 15 miles of Woodbine is cannibalization and will have a substantial effect,” said Leslie. “Eliminating the slots-at-racetracks program next year? It doesn’t make sense. We are going to do everything we can to convince them this is a huge mistake. This is our industry, and our lives, at stake.”

Jane Holmes, vice-president of corporate affairs at WEG, said she could not comment until she’d reviewed the OLG announcement.

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